Animal-trap.



PATENTED JULY 2, 1907.

K. E, JOHANSSON.

ANIMAL TRAP.

APPLICATION FILED 1013.22, 1907.

lid a" 6f 63 f up'loop or snare,

" consists in certain peculiarities of the construction,

- to gnaw awafobstructions, than the bait which may be [of the trap. Rig. 3 is line 3- 3 of Fig. 1 looking in. the direction indicated by the arrows; and Fig. i

. that end of the casing or UNITEII) S.

.ATES

fiir iilllilhlfll ()FFICE.

human-Thar.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Entented. July 2, 1907.

Application on March 22,1901. serial No- 383,801.

-ofCook and State of Illlnois,fhave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Animal Traps, of which the following is a specification.

--This invention relates to improvements in that class of animal traps, in which a spring-actuatod or twitcht in connection with an aportured cage or casing, is employed, to catch and bodily holdthe animals, and while it is more especially intended and designed for trapping animals of the rodent family, such as rats and mice on account of their peculiar habits of gnawing obstructions to their passage, yet it is applicable for use in trapping other animals; and it novel arrangement, and operation of the various parts thereof, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

l he ohject of the invention is to provide an animal trap, which shall be simple and inexpensive in con struction, strong, durable and effective in operation, with its parts so made and arranged that when the. trap is set for operation an obstruction will be located in such a way, near the opening in the casing or cage of the trap, as to prevent the animal entering and so as to offer to the animal, on account 0[ its desire and habit a further inducement other placed in the cage or casing to spring the trap or rather to release the loop or snare. Other objects and advantages of the invention will ,be'disclosed ml the subjoined description and explanation. a 'In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention ertains, to-malie and use. the same, I

' will now proce d to describe it; referring to the accompa'nying drawi g, in which Eigure" 1 is central longitudinal sectional. view, showingthe p s of the trap set or ready for operation to bodily catc an animal Fig. 2 is a top plan view a cross-sectional view taken on is a front end view of the trap 'when the parts? are arranged as shown in Fig. 1.

Like numerals of reference, refer to corresponding parts throughout the different views of the drawing.

I The reference numeral 10 designates a box-like cage or casing, which may be made of any suitable size,

form and material, but preferably rectangular in shape,

as shown, and of wood or metal, and has in one of its ends an opening 11,-of any suitable form and size best adapted for the kind of animals desired to be caught. As is cieariy chews in E l and 2 of the drawing,

' cage in which the opening 11 is formed is provided with a vertical guide-way 12, i

count of the form of the projection which extends from the top oi llic cage to the bottom or iower portion thcreof and across the some. and is for the guidance oi the loop or .suurc l3, which prcf ersbly made of wire and of sullicimii sir-c to surrtuuul the opening 11 when in itslowercd or set position.

The upper ends of tho loop or sum r;- l23 z'uc councctcd to the springs mcn'ibcrs i-i'm onc tlicir ends. which members are formed nci'tr their othL-r ends into coilcd springs 15 which on? scoured to tlu top of tho cngc '10 and usually on the uppcr surface tl'icrcof. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing, tho spring members 14 extend in parallelism from the springs 15, whiclrnctuate said mcuibcrs to near that cnd of the cage in which the guide-Wu is formcd. and that said members arc said members, thus causing them to act in unison. To form the our piece or portion 16, the mcuibcrs l-i are bcnttrousvcrscly at lhcir free coda. thus providing loops 1? on which the upper cud-s of thc snare or loop 13 is secured, in a nmnncr to prevent l'l'ltll'l sliding togcihcr or apart. The top of the cage or casing is formed near the end thereof in which the opening ll is located with u transverse slot 18, for the passage loop 19, the upper cuds of which are adjust-ably secured on the spring members 14, as at 20, and usually" by twining the ends of the loop 1% around said mcmbcrs. The lower portion oi the in -r loop 19 is provided with an upwardly bent projection 2i, around which. a cord, thread or other easily destroyed obstruction 22 in the iorln of a loop is oxtondcd, the lower portion of which cord or OlJSllllCiiull ir s passed around a proicction 23, which is locate-cl horizontally bclow the opening 11 in one end of the cage and is secured at. one of its ends thereto. This projection 23. is preferably in the form of two parallel wires, as shown in Fig. 2, so that. the strands of the obstruction 22 will thereby, and on acil, be separated sufficiently to prevent the passage 'of the animal through tht opening 11 without obstruction. It will he noted by reference to 1 and 2 that the transverse slot 18 is of suflicient width to permit the trigger loop 19 to be moved back and forth, or adjusted on the spring members 1f so that the obstruction 22 may be located nearer to or farther from the inner surface of the end of thecage in which the opening 1.1 is formed, to adapt the trap for animals of different sizes, for it is evident that if the trap is designed to catch mice the obstruction 22 should be located very close to the inner surface of stud end of the casing, and if it is desired To catch larger animals the obstruction should he loco-t ed further from said end, in order that the snare or loop 13 may'surround a portion of its body. That end of the casing. or cage in which the opening )1 is transversely and horizontally secured thereon, and across the upper portion 16. which is intcgrol with.

and operation of a triggcr portion of the opening 11, a serrated strip 2 1', which will assist the snare or loop 13 in firmly holding the animal after it has been caught.

After the trap has been set, which is performed by pressing the spring members 14 downwardly so that the snare or loop 13 will surround the opening 11 and fastening the trigger loop 19 to the piojection 23 by means of a string or thread 22. it is apparent that as the animal attempts to enter the opening ,ll'it will encountor the obstruction 22, and if the animal is of the rodent tribe it will gnaw the string or obstruction 22, thus releasing the spring members and thereby causing the snare or loop 13 to catch the body of the animal between its lower portion and the upper part of the opening II] in the cage If the animal is not of the rodent family or is not given to gnawing obstructions, it is evident that in its attempt to enter the eage through the open; ingll it will displace the cord or string 22 from the projection 23, when the spring members will he released and the same eperatioi'i, as above described, will tnlqe place.

r k. i Hnvmgmthus fully described my invention, what 1 In an animal trap, the combination with a casing hai ing an entrance opening for the nnimnl in one of its walls and pl'mfitltd in its top' with a transverse slot, of springs secured on the upper surface 01 the casing and each hav ing' ti memher extended towards the which the entrance-opening is formed, Sflldfljlflfllblfi lying in parallelism and hnving their free-gndiYnnited by a cross portion, a loop secured at its end: to "me free ends of the spring; members fln qltadnpted to surround the entrance opening: in the casing, a trigger loop ndjiistably secured at its upper ends on the spring meinhers and extended through the opening in the top of th casing. an inwardly extending projection located below the entrnnce opening oi the easing. and an ohstruction uniting the wall of the casing in lower portion of ihe'trigger loop and the said projection,

substantially :15 described.

KAI a. JonANssoNf Witnesses (IL-\s. (1. 'llLLMAN; M. A. NYMAN. 

